Hey SDMB, new user here. There’s something I’ve wanted to share with Dopers for a while, and the changes in registration policy prompted me to actually sit down and do it. I think it’s something that some people on this board might find pretty intriguing. The title of the post isn’t hyperbole; I honestly can’t think of a single website (certainly not one that’s the work of a single person) that I’ve ever found more interesting. But I’d also say that it’s a fair bet that many would find it completely boring. I certainly doubt that it’s for everyone. It’s definitely worth a look, though.
Ulillillia. Familiar with him? If so, you might be worrying or bracing yourself for what I’m going to say. It’s a sad truth that if you google his name, you’ll find a lot of discussion of his webpage, a great deal of which is devoted to making fun of him. There are a lot of jerks on the internet, and in a lot of ways Ulillillia is an easy target, so maybe it’s to be expected. But I just wanted to state up front that this is in no way intended to be a “ha ha look at this crazy guy” post like you see on other forums.
Who is Ulillillia? He’s a guy in his mid-20s who lives in Minot, North Dakota. His favorite food is pizza, and his favorite color is the shade of green represented by the hexadecimal number 40C000. On February 19 of this year, he went to bed at 9:00 PM, had a dream that involved him patching up a roof and fighting off bats, and woke up the next day at 6:14 AM. How do I know this? He’s probably the only person who’s carried out, to its fullest extent, the idea of a “personal home page”. His website is basically a catalog of his entire life. He explains his childhood, education, vacations, and hobbies. He talks about his likes, dislikes, fears, obsessions, music that he listens to. He writes about various dreams that he’s had. But still, sounds pretty much like anyone’s blog, right? It’s different. Ulillillia doesn’t just describe his life; he takes a microscope to it.
The simplest way to put it would be to say that Ulillilla thinks in a way that most people don’t. And this is the beauty of his webpage. He’s so thoroughly documented his life, both physical and mental (actually, the focus is on the mental part) that, if you read through enough of it, it’s like being drawn into another world.
To begin with: Ulillillia is obsessed with numbers, and assigns numerical quantities to many things that most people wouldn’t. This is probably the first thing that anyone reading his site notices. He’s got some pretty severe issues with OCD–for example, he once played a song on his computer and MP3 player continuously for 46 days. He estimates that he’s listened to a different song somewhere between 900,000 and 1,200,000 times in his lifetime (it’s a short song–47.76327 seconds at normal speed, although he likes to listen to his songs at varying speeds). He’s obsessed with details: exact times, colors, measurements, and so on. He has some very odd fears and other issues: for example, he can’t walk in the direct path of a mirror, and he has an intense phobia of two very common words that somehow stems from a cartoon he watched in 1997, and does not use those words anywhere on his site (this leads to some odd phrasing to avoid the words). These are just a few examples, but to really get a sense of how his mind works, you should check out his site.
Specifically, the must-read part is section 4, “About Me”. This is where explains all his quirks in straightforward, clear language (actually I really like his writing style, although I can’t quite explain why). He talks about every grade of school he went through, with details on his teachers and classes (and sometimes some sad revelations, like the number of bullies he had to deal with). He talks about his former obsession with video games, the aforementioned fears and issues (there are more, including some that he’s conquered), the trips he’s been on, how he listens to music (and he does listen to it in a very specific way), any much more. The most interesting part of his site by far, in my opinion, is his dream journal. He’s described and numerically ranked in nine different categories over SEVEN HUNDRED dreams that he’s had. His dreams aren’t necessarily any more interesting than anyone else’s, but the sheer number of them and the detail he puts into describing each of them (right down to the exact night he had the dream) make it absolutely fascinating.
There’s more, too–almost too much to even describe, let alone read. Various “tips and tricks” to help with math, descriptions of his “mind game”, which is basically his imagination (he talks about this a lot throughout his site), games that’s he’s invented or is programming, stories that he’s written, animated GIFs that he’s made, along with a discussion of how he carefully constructs them, articles about his website and how he updates it, and of course a blog–the events of every day of the past 3 years are described, and each day is rated (of course) from “very good” to “very bad” (yes, every single day). Also included are the major events of every month. Reading everything on his site would take ages.
There’s more that I can say, but this is getting too long, and really the best way to get a sense of it is to read it. As a sort of footnote, something I’ve neglected to mention: there are some aspects of his that could be considered sad–he rarely gets out of his parents’ house or even his room, and he writes that he has few close friends. He has a thirst for learning and wants to travel, but due to his particular situation it seems like college and any travel is not likely to happen in the future. But I’m focusing on the positive here: he’s created something remarkable, revealing a world that’s different, strange, but completely fascinating if you engage it. But remember, this isn’t just a tour or a glance–with Ulillillia, the only choice is to go all the way in.
“I was otherwise very normal before I became 4 years old.”